Birmingham, Ala. - Western Carolina women's basketball used a strong 21-5 run in the second half to rally to a five-point edge in the fourth quarter. However, Samford used a pair of late free throws in the final seconds to defeat the Catamounts 48-47 on Thursday night in Southern Conference action at the Pete Hanna Center.
"Tough loss tonight as I was proud of our fight and energy," commented Head Coach Kiley Hill. "We had a few young ones step up and play quality minutes. We just left too many pts off the board that came back too bite us along with critical second chance opportunities."
Junior Chelsea Wooten led the Catamounts in double figures with 16 points. Wooten connected on six field goals, with three of those coming from beyond the arc as she tallied her eighth double-figure scoring output of the season and her fourth straight such occurrence. She added a pair of steals and a pair of rejections. Tyra Robinson added eight points on 3-of-5 shooting off the bench for WCU and Jada Burton finished one off her season-high with seven rebounds, adding four assists and five points.
Carly Heidger led the Bulldogs with 12 points including the two late free throws to propel the hosts to victory. Jada Knight joined Heidger in double-figures with 10 points as she went 4-of-5 from the field, adding five rebounds and a pair of blocks to her stat line. Emily Bowman led Samford on the defensive end with seven rebounds and three blocks.
Samford (9-9, 1-2 SoCon) got the early edge on Thursday as the hosts used a 9-2 run in the opening four minutes to gain the lead before WCU answered with a 7-4 spurt of its own capped by a 3-pointer from Wooten to make it 13-9 Bulldogs at the 3:47 mark of the first quarter. Wooten and Lonasia Brewer connected on back-to-back buckets in the quarter's final minutes to tie the score before a late Bulldogs score made it 15-13 Samford after one.
The Bulldogs opened the second quarter on a 9-2 run over the opening four minutes which stretched the margin to nine, 24-15, forcing a WCU timeout. The Bulldogs tallied a quick free throw before a four-point spurt from the Catamounts whittled the margin to six. Samford made one more from the free throw line, capping the low-scoring second quarter with the Bulldogs leading 26-19 at the half.
Samford scored six of the first eight points to begin the second half to stretch its lead to 11, 32-21 with 6:24 to play in the quarter. WCU answered quickly after that burst with 11 of the games following 13 points to pull back to within two at 34-32 with two minutes to play. Samford added a free three before the Catamounts evened the score at 35 in the final 90 seconds to hit the final frame all square.
The Catamounts opened the fourth quarter on a 7-2 run to claim a five-point edge at 42-37 with 6:37 to play. The Bulldogs quickly answered with five unanswered of their own to even the score at 42. Wooten buried a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession to give WCU a 45-42 edge.
Following a Bulldogs free throw, Brewer connected on a jumper in the paint to increase the Catamount lead to four, 47-43, with a little over two minutes to play . Samford cut the deficit to one with a 3-pointer before the two teams traded empty possessions. The Bulldogs drew a late foul and made both free throws with five seconds to play. Wooten got off a last-second attempt that went unanswered, and Samford held on for the 48-47 victory.
Western Carolina (5-13, 0-3 SoCon) posted a 20-of-60 (33.3%) shooting performance while limiting Samford to just 31.5% (17-of-54). Both teams made three from beyond the arc, while both squads struggled from the charity stripe on Thursday with WCU going 4-of-8 compared to 11-of-18 for the Bulldogs. Samford held a slight edge on the glass at 42-38.
WCU forced 15 turnovers, turning them into 14 points, compared to 14 Catamount turnovers resulting in a seven points for Samford. The guests held a 30-20 edge in points in the paint and led the bench, scoring 25-20, led by eight from Robinson.
The Catamounts continue league play on Saturday, making the trip to the Peach State to battle Mercer on Jan. 20, from Hawkins Arena in Macon. Mercer sits at 7-12 after a 76-52 home victory over UNCG on Thursday night. The matchup with Mercer will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats available on CatamountSports.com.
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